Silver Bracelet 11: A Woman in Love
by Brandon
Summary: In which an extreme possibility is considered.


TITLE: A Woman in Love   
SPOILER WARNING: None   
RATING: PG, for suggestions of sexual situations. Nothing explicit, though.   
CONTENT WARNING: None   
CLASSIFICATION: SRa, MSR. Duh.   
SUMMARY: Dana needs to find Mulder a Christmas present, and Charlie helps her find just the thing. A Silver Bracelet story.   


A Woman in Love 

by Brandon D. Ray   


Charlie Scully stopped in the entryway to Arby's for a moment and gazed at his sister. A couple of people elbowed by him in annoyance, but he didn't care: Watching Dana when she didn't know she was being watched was one of his all-time favorite spectator sports. 

At the moment she was seated in a booth towards the back of the restaurant, elbows propped on the table, her hands clutching what he knew was almost certainly a jamocha shake. On the table in front of her was a sandwich with far too much lettuce and other vegetable matter for Charlie's taste, as well as a small envelope of french fries. And her face.... 

Charlie felt a smile spreading across his own features. Yup. She was thinking about Mulder again. What a surprise. 

He stepped up to the counter and placed his order; a few moments later, beef and cheddar and a large soft drink in hand, he strode across the restaurant to Dana's booth and slid into the seat opposite her. 

"Hey, Red!" he greeted her. 

She looked across the table at him and smiled. "Hey, Red!" 

"So," Charlie continued as he unwrapped his sandwich. "What's on the agenda for today?" 

Dana shrugged slightly. "Nothing much. I just wanted a chance to see you before you had to ship out again." 

Charlie snorted. "'Ship out,'" he repeated. "Yeah, right. The fate of the free world hangs in the balance if I'm not back at my desk shuffling papers by 0800 tomorrow." 

"Join the Navy and see the bureaucracy," Dana replied playfully. 

Charlie shook his head in amazement. Dana was so different -- so happy. He could hardly fucking believe it. His mother had reported this change to him when he'd called late last week to let her know he'd managed to get leave for Twelfth Night, but hearing it from someone else and seeing it for himself were two very different things. It was almost enough to make him want to kiss the man responsible. 

Almost. 

"What are you thinking about?" 

Charlie blinked; he hadn't intended to get quite so far into his little reverie. "Sorry," he said, flashing what he hoped was an enigmatic half-smile. "I was just contemplating giving your boyfriend a hickey." 

For just the barest second shock flitted across Dana's face, and Charlie let his smile broaden into a grin. Her eyes widened as she realized she'd been had, and in another instant brother and sister were both doubled over and helpless with laughter. 

# # # 

"Tell me again why we're doing this," Charlie said as he trailed his sister through the crowded shopping mall. 

"I told you," Dana replied. "I'm looking for a present for Mulder. A Christmas present." 

"But Dana," he protested, "Christmas was two weeks ago, and --" 

"Thirteen days," she corrected. "Thirteen long days. And I still haven't gotten him a present." She suddenly veered from her path and darted into a bookstore, and Charlie had to run to catch up. 

He found her, as he'd more than half expected, in the New Age section of the store. She took one glance at him as he approached, then turned her gaze back to the shelves in front of her. 

"Crystals; auras; Tarot -- god, what a bunch of crap." Dana shook her head. "Who in their right mind would put this stuff in the same category with UFO's and vampires?" 

"Who indeed, sis?" Charlie said, making no effort at all to keep the amusement out of his voice. It was as much as he could do to keep from bursting out laughing again -- this was, after all, his big sister Dana, the rationalist's rationalist, muttering under her breath because B. Dalton's chose to keep the "respectable" paranormal materials in the same aisle with the not-so-respectable. 

Dana shook her head again. "This is impossible," she declared. "He already has half these books, and for all I know he doesn't have the other half because they aren't any good." She sighed. "A book isn't personal enough, anyway." And she turned and strode from the store. Charlie followed. 

# # # 

An hour and a quarter later they were sitting on a bench at the far end of the mall. They'd been in at least a dozen stores, but Dana still hadn't managed to settle on a gift. And although Charlie was taking considerable amusement at watching his sister in a shopping frenzy -- it was almost as much fun as tormenting ensigns -- his feet were tired, and he was getting hungry again. 

"This is impossible," Dana was saying. "He's always been hard to shop for, but there has to be SOMETHING he'd like. I just know it. If only I could think...." 

Charlie tuned out her annoyed muttering for a moment, and let his gaze slide across the storefronts opposite them. Musicland...Software, Etc....Thingsville...Victoria's Secret...GNC.... 

His eyes snapped back to Victoria's Secret, and he felt a smile spreading across his face. Mannequins dressed in all sorts of frilly, lacy bits of froth adorned the display window, and as he looked at the storefront a couple of giggling sorority types entered the place. He nodded to himself. Yeah; just the thing. 

He grabbed Dana's elbow, cutting her off in mid-fume, and dragged her off the bench and onto her feet. 

"Charlie? What -- ?" 

"Come on, Dana. I think I've found what you're looking for." He started to guide her across the thoroughfare towards the lingerie shop. 

"I don't understand. What are you doing?" 

Charlie glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned. "Finding Mulder a gift and improving your sex life, all at the same time." 

Her eyes widened as she realized where he was leading her. "Oh, no, Charlie. You are not getting me to go in there. My sex life is just fine!" 

He stopped and turned to look at her appraisingly. "'Fine?'" 

"Fine," she repeated firmly. "As in good. Nice. Wonderful." 

"Uh huh." He studied her face for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "Fine isn't good enough," he said, and took her arm again and tried to pull her towards the store. 

"Charlie, no!" Dana pulled loose from him and took a couple of steps back. He was surprised to see that she really did seem upset, which hadn't been his intention at all, and for a moment he wondered if he'd made a mistake. 

"Dana?" He took a tentative step towards her. "Dana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything." He hesitated, then added, "What's the problem?" 

He watched as she chewed on her lower lip for a moment; she seemed to be debating with herself what to say. Finally, with some discomfort: "It's just, um...that I've never...um, I've never bought anything...like that before." 

Charlie felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Never?" 

She shook her head. "Never." Her voice firmed up just a bit. "And, to be honest, I've never understood why anyone would want to." 

Charlie stared at his sister for a moment; then he shook his head. "Wow." He studied her for just a moment as afternoon shoppers continued to flow around them. "Dana," he said, "just why, exactly, do you suppose people buy clothes like that?" He nodded towards the lingerie store. 

Dana shook her head again. "I really don't know." She paused. "I guess...I guess maybe they do it because...because they're getting bored? Or because men just...like that sort of thing?" She looked up at him questioningly. 

"I suppose those things may enter into it for some people," Charlie agreed, "but that isn't all of it." He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you like your cake with frosting on it?" 

She looked puzzled for just an instant; then her face cleared, and she nodded. "Of course. But I'm not a cake, Charlie; I'm not a thing. I'm a person." 

"Of course you are," he said. "You're a lovely young woman. But this is just an analogy, so bear with me; I promise you, I'm not trying to objectify you." He waited until she nodded in assent. "Now to get back to the cake, you admit that you like frosting on your cake, right?" Another, somewhat reluctant nod. "Okay. But cake is pretty good all by itself, isn't it? I mean, it tastes good, and you can get just as fat and shoot your cholesterol all to hell even if you eat cake without frosting, right?" 

"Yes," she said, "and I see where you're going with this. But Charlie --" 

He raised his hand to cut her off. "Don't interrupt, Red; I'm on a roll." He gave her an affectionate smirk, and was pleased to see the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

"Now let's move on to something else," he continued. "I think we've covered the cake in adequate detail. Have you and Mulder been out on a formal date yet?" 

"Well, yes. On New Year's Eve. But --" 

"Okay, so you've been out together, and you've done the dinner and dancing thing, or gone to a play, or whatever. Did Mulder dress up for this date?" 

Now she did smile. "Yes. Yes he did." 

"But why did he dress up, Dana? What was the point? You weren't bored with him, were you? You wouldn't have loved him any less if he'd showed up wearing jeans and t-shirt, would you?" He paused just long enough for the questions to sink in, but not long enough for her to try to respond. "Did you enjoy looking at him in his suit or tux or whatever it was?" 

Again she gnawed on her lower lip. Finally she nodded, and smiled. "Yes." 

"Okay," Charlie went on. "Let's turn it around. What did YOU wear that night?" 

"I, uh, didn't really have anything appropriate, so I bought a new dress." 

Charlie nodded. "Was it a nice dress? Did it look good on you?" 

Dana actually blushed this time, and Charlie felt his lips quirk in amusement. "Mulder seemed to think so." 

"What did he say?" 

"He didn't actually SAY anything." Her blush deepened. "It was more the way he looked at me." 

"Did you like the way he looked at you?" 

"Yes. But..." 

Her voice trailed off; Charlie waited until he was sure she wasn't going to complete her thought without prompting. Then, very softly, "But what?" Still she didn't answer. "Are you afraid there's something wrong with the way you felt that evening?" 

"N-no. Not exactly. It's just....no one -- no man -- has ever looked at me quite like that before." 

"I doubt THAT very seriously," Charlie said, allowing just a touch of humor to enter his voice. "More likely this is the first time you've allowed yourself to enjoy it." She started to say something, but he cut her off again, and leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Dana, it's okay for him to look at you, and it's okay for you to enjoy having him look at you. And vice versa, of course, but somehow I don't think that's the big problem here. And that's the real reason stores like this stay in business." 

She looked up at him questioningly, and again he nodded towards the lingerie shop, and said, "Because men and women like to look at each other, and they like to be looked at. Now come on; whaddaya say? Let's go take a look at what they've got. Just because you look, that doesn't mean you have to buy." 

A moment later the two of them were standing just inside the entrance to the store. Charlie stood back from Dana just a foot or two, giving her a little room to establish a comfort level, and also giving her time to get used to being in the place. He noticed one of the sales clerks looking over at them inquiringly, but he shook his head, and she nodded slightly and turned away. 

Finally Dana started to walk through the store, stopping here and there to examine a piece of merchandise. She was so completely focused on what she was doing that for a moment Charlie thought this might be how she looked when she was examining a crime scene. He followed along a couple of steps behind, trying to stay out of her line of vision, and waited. 

She stopped in front of a mannequin wearing a corselet, and gave it a long look. Charlie edged around to the side, not wanting to distract her, but trying to get a look at her face, but he couldn't tell from her expression what she was thinking. From the way she'd acted outside the store, he didn't think Dana was quite ready for this, but if she decided to go for it he would back her up. It wasn't a good color for her -- fire engine red with black trim -- but that was a fixable problem; there was an entire rack of similar garments only a few feet away. After a moment more, Dana glanced briefly at Charlie, smiled slightly and shook her head, and walked on. 

They finally wound up in front of a rack of negligees, and Charlie nodded to himself. This was probably a good place for her to start; nothing too kinky, but all of them had clearly been designed with something other than sleep in mind. 

The look of concentration on her face deepened as she slowly and methodically looked at each garment on the rack. Charlie watched in fascination, wondering if she would actually have the courage to choose something. He'd already pushed her pretty hard, and he really didn't want to make her too uncomfortable. 

Just a LITTLE uncomfortable. 

Finally, she pulled one of the negligees from the rack, and Charlie nodded approvingly to himself. It was floor length, lime green with forest green highlights, and with a simple but elegant filigree design on the bodice. The entire assemblage was held up by spaghetti-style shoulder straps, and came with a matching overgarment. Charlie couldn't prevent a smile from spreading across his face. Fox Mulder was one lucky son of a bitch, and he didn't even know it yet. 

Dana continued looking at the negligee, then turned hesitantly towards Charlie and held the garment up for his closer inspection. "What do you think?" There was a strange mix of hopeful uncertainty in her voice. 

Charlie nodded soberly, understanding that he could easily bruise her at this moment by being too flip. "It's lovely," he said softly. 

"Do you -- do you think Mulder would...like it?" 

"I think Mulder will love it." 

Dana looked at the price tag and shook her head. "It's..it's awfully expensive. I had no idea they cost that much." Her voice was soft and wistful. "I mean, it's not a lot of money as such, but it's a lot to spend on something that...that I'd only be wearing for a few minutes." She looked back up at Charlie again, searching his face. "Isn't it?" 

Charlie raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Ah, but you aren't going to wear it for only a few minutes." He took the negligee from her and held it up so that they could both see the overhead lights shining through the gauzy material. 

"I'm not?" 

He shook his head and handed the garment back to her. "Nope. Well, actually, you COULD do it that way, if you wanted to. But there's a better way." 

"What's the better way?" 

"You can stretch it out; make it last awhile." He hesitated, and suddenly realized that for all his bravado he wasn't entirely comfortable at the idea of discussing Dana's sex life with her in intimate detail. 

She must have read the uncertainty in his face, because she reached out and laid a gentle hand on his elbow. "It's okay, Charlie. Really. Go ahead and tell me what the better way is. I know it sounds stupid, but I really haven't...haven't done things like this before." And she blushed again and looked down at the floor. 

Charlie nodded. "Okay. Here's the deal. You invite Mulder over to your place some evening, on the pretext of watching a movie, playing cards, whatever it is you two like to do together. When he shows up, you're already wearing this." He touched the negligee briefly. "However, he doesn't know that, because over the pretty gown you are wearing some old robe or caftan or something that he's seen before. Something that looks nice, but isn't TOO terribly sexy. With me so far?" 

Dana nodded. 

"The next step," Charlie went on, " is to get set up for the evening you planned. Say you invited him for a movie. You tell him to sit on the couch and wait while you get the popcorn. Then, without any comment, and without looking at him, you take off the robe and lay it across a chair or something. Then you go get the popcorn, put the movie in the VCR and sit down next to him and cuddle up close." He stopped and studied her face. 

Dana chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and finally shook her head. "I guess I don't get it." 

"Oh, come on, Dana," Charlie replied. "Don't you see? By the time you sit down next to him, Mulder's eyes will be popping right out of his head -- you'll probably have to pick them up off the carpet for him." She chuckled, and he continued, "Then you by god sit next to him for the next two hours, and the two of you cuddle and watch the movie." 

"But won't he just try to....you know?" She waved her hand in the air in embarrassment. 

"Not if you play it right. Not if you ignore what you're wearing completely. He'll sit there next to you with his arm around you, trying desperately to keep his cool, waiting for you to make the first move." He chuckled. "And if he DOES try to 'you know', is that such a terrible thing? But he won't, and you'll get two solid hours of Mulder sitting next to you, looking at you and touching you the way he did when you wore that dress on New Year's Eve." 

Slowly a smile started to spread across Dana's face. "That does sound like fun," she said, and shook her head. "You are an evil, evil man, Charlie." 

Charlie thought they were done, but on the way to the cash register Dana suddenly served and then stopped in front of the mannequin wearing the corselet again. Charlie's eyes shot up in surprise as he stood and watched his sister. He had a better angle on her face this time, and it was clear that while part of her was resisting, another part of her was very attracted to the garment. Deciding that it was time for another brotherly push, he stepped up next to her. 

"You could get one of those, too, if you want to, but that's not a good color for you." He stepped over to the rack and quickly flipped through them, finally coming up with one in midnight blue with black trim. He pulled it out and held it up for her. "Here. I think this one would look good on you." 

Dana looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then held the negligee up. "But I already have this." 

He smiled at her. "So where is it written that you're only allowed to have one item of sexy clothing?" 

Dana's gaze flicked from her brother to the corselet, then back to her brother again. "I don't know, Charlie," she said uncertainly. 

Charlie studied her face for a moment. She pretty clearly wanted to buy the corselet, but there was something bothering her, something other than the objections she had raised before. "Dana?" He spoke very softly. "What's wrong?" 

"It's just..." Her voice trailed off, and her face took on a look of frustration as she continued to stare at the garment. Finally she let her eyes drop to the floor, and she muttered, "It's those damned videos." 

Once again Charlie felt his eyebrows creeping up. "Videos?" It took him just a minute, but then he had it. "Oh, you mean Mulder's X-rated movies?" She nodded, but still wouldn't meet his eyes. "What about them?" he asked. 

She shifted uncomfortably. "The women in the videos...they wear stuff like that." Finally she raised her eyes to look at him again. "Don't they?" 

Charlie had thought his eyebrows were as high on his forehead as they would go, but discovered that he was wrong. "Yeah, I suppose they do." He thought about it for just a moment. "Are you afraid you might suffer from the comparison?" 

"Yes." It was barely a whisper; this must really be bothering her. 

Charlie took a deep breath. "Dana, haven't you figured out why Mulder has those videos?" 

She shrugged unhappily. "I suppose it's because...because they turn him on. Men seem to like them." 

"Some men do," Charlie said. "And so do some women, by the way. But in Mulder's case I think the pattern is pretty clear, don't you?" He waited, but she just shook her head. "Look at the profile, Dana, and try to put your personal involvement aside for a minute. Here we have a normal, healthy man, mid to late 30s. Hasn't had a date in four or five years, right?" She nodded. "But what he DOES have is a collection of pornographic videotapes, and by the way, for that entire five years plus he's been working very closely with an attractive woman close to his own age, and now we find that for months, if not years, he's been in love with her. What does THAT tell you?" And he stopped and waited for her to work it out. 

Dana's eyes widened. "You think the tapes were a form of...of sublimation?" 

Charlie nodded. "And not very subtle sublimation, at that. And not only that, Dana, but think about the fact that he let you find out about the tapes. That's pretty damned unusual -- most guys who own stuff like that like to keep it secret, especially from friends of the opposite sex. But not Mulder -- from what you've told me in the past, it sounds like he almost went out of his way to make SURE you knew about them. I'm not saying this was conscious on his part, but it sounds an awfully lot like he wanted to make sure you knew that he wasn't seeking relief with other women." 

Dana was silent for a moment as she took all that in. Finally, very softly: "Jesus." She shook her head. "That's...that's unbelievable." 

Charlie shrugged. "It may or may not be true; maybe the poor guy's just oversexed." He smirked slightly, wanting to lighten the tone of the conversation a bit. "You'd know about that better than I would. But in any case, I don't think you need to be threatened by the women on those tapes. Mulder strikes me as being smart enough to know the difference between a TV picture and the real thing." He hesitated just a moment, considering whether or not to make one more suggestion, then shrugged and added, "And if you REALLY want to understand those videos, and why he likes them, maybe you should sit down and watch a couple of them with him." 

Her eyes widened again. "Are you serious?" 

"Sure. Why not?" 

"Well...it's kind of...weird. Isn't it?" 

Charlie shrugged. "What's weird?" he asked. "Look, Dana, I'm not trying to push you into anything -- not much, anyway." He smiled at her, and she smiled back, just a little uncertainly. "But I promise you that if you ask to watch one of those movies with him, he'll be over at your place with a videotape in one hand and a six pack of beer in the other faster than you can say Johnny Wad." He held up the corselet. "And if you have THIS on under your robe when he comes over, I can pretty much assure you that you'll get a first-hand, in-depth demonstration of HIS opinion on whose underwear is the prettiest." 

Dana stood looking at him for a pair of minutes, seeming to study his face. Finally, she nodded. "Okay," she said, venturing another small smile as she took the corselet from him. "I'll...I'll think about it." She shook her head, and her smile broadened. "I really love you, Charlie. Do you know that?" And she went up on her toes and kissed her brother lightly on the cheek before turning to walk to the cash register.   
  


Fini   


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